


7.2 Richter

by purpleglasseswrites



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Skye | Daisy Johnson is Tony Stark's Daughter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-21 12:30:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11357553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleglasseswrites/pseuds/purpleglasseswrites
Summary: If the alarm hadn't gone off then, Daisy was pretty sure she would have screamed. And when it went up all the SHIELD newsfeeds, Daisy did scream. Because there was one thing for her father to be psychotic. One thing for his memories of her to be removed. One thing to find out he wasn't her father after all. One thing to find out her father was actually Tony Stark. And another thing to find out Steve Rogers had just killed him.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Daisy was born on July 2nd 1992 (premature, so everything will hopefully add up). That makes her 24 in the story.
> 
> This prologue takes place during Civil War. So Siberia hasn't happened yet.
> 
> Also, AOS timing, this is set after the midseason finale of season 4, but without Aida going all Ultron or whatever. I'll figure that out once I get there. 
> 
> All of the chapter titles come from the poem My Father on His Shield by Walt McDonald.

_"Your eyes are hallow,_   
_Your heart is bruised,_   
_Your temple has been raided,_   
_Your soul has been shattered,_   
_Was he worth it?_   
_― Tanzy Sayadi_

  
**7.2 Richter**

  
**Prologue**

  
_"Want to talk facts? Ultron was created because people were too close to Tony Stark. They were blinded by his charm. They trusted him. Never even thought to look at what he was working on. And the Avengers - they let one man do whatever he wanted, and the world was almost destroyed for it."_

  
The chatter in the room was like an uproar to Daisy's ears.

  
Simmons was babbling about further DNA testing. Fitz couldn't contain his excitement, hands dangling in the air, his voice going up several octaves as Mack was joking about Tremors shaking the shit out of Avengers Tower with Elena cursing in Spanish at his side. Daisy wasn't sure at whom. May was declaring this the stroke that allowed her to contact Bobbi and Hunter. And Coulson…Colson kept asking Daisy if she was alright.

  
She felt it piercing through her skin, millions of bees wanting to be set free, a feeling so intense it made her think she was going to explode if it didn't get out. A feeling she hadn't felt for almost two years. Her gaze fell on the windows dividing the Playground. Such fragile glass. They had been replaced since then, but to Daisy they were already shattered to the ground, only pieces of the whole they had once been. Just like her.

  
Daisy closed her eyes shut, blocking out Coulson's growing concerns along with everyone else. She needed to calm herself, otherwise there was a good chance the windows wouldn't be the only things breaking down. And for the hundredth time, Daisy was grateful that most of the Playground was indeed underground.

  
She told herself it meant nothing. It was just another name added to the long list of those she already had. It didn't mean family. She already had that with SHIELD.

  
Mary Sue Poots. Skye. Agent Skye. Daisy Johnson. Quake. Daisy Stark.

  
They were just names.

  
She felt the bees dying down, and when she opened her eyes, the windows were whole again. But everyone else…everyone else had quitted down and their eyes were fixed on her, so full of concern.

  
And despite everything, Daisy managed to smile. Because this was family. This was home. And no name was going to take that away from her. Not again.

  
"This is way cooler than Vader being Luke's father!" Sam announced as he strolled into the room, his arms wide open as if to hug Daisy.

  
And she would have hugged him. Hell, she would have even laughed out loud.

  
But then Billy practically flew in and said the only thing Daisy didn't want to hear. He spoke the bare truth out loud.

  
"Is it true that Daisy is Tony Freaking Stark's daughter?"

  
And then Daisy exploded.


	2. Ice in My Eyes

_“I’m not ready for goodbye,_   
_Nor so long or see ya later._   
_Not ready for the end,_   
_Not ready for this reality…_   
_So could they change the prognosis,_   
_Tell me it was just a mistake…”_

  
_Not Ready For Goodbye - Megan Adams_

  
Though Daisy Johnson had encountered a whole lot of weird in her twenty-four years of life and frankly had also done all sorts of weird things herself, she had never considered stealing the Chihuahua of a teenage girl in order to get into a vet clinic an option. That was of course before having everything she had ever known about herself turned upside down. Again.

  
So Daisy swallowed any amount of pride she may have had left and, tightening her grip on the small dog in her arms, made her way through the streets of Milwaukee, ignoring the questioning eyes of the people passing by, most of them lingering more than usual, surely putting a name to the face. Whether it was Quake or Agent Johnson, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t even want to consider the third option after what had happened with the Koenig twins last night.

  
“Excuse me,” a high-pitched voice asked and for half a second, Daisy expected the redhead she had snatched the dog from to come asking for it back. “Can you please sign this, Quake?”

  
Daisy stared at the girl in front of her and at the napkin and pen handed her way. She had certainly not expected that.

  
“Uhm...sure,” She had no idea how she managed to keep the dog from running off and grab what the girl was handing her at the same time, but maybe it was an agent thing. Or rather, a superhero thing, as Mack liked to joke about. “What’s your name, sweetie?”

  
“Erin,” The girl almost squealed in excitement, and as Daisy raised an eyebrow, glanced at a small boy with glasses waiting a few feet away. “My brother says you’re not as cool as Iron Man, but I really think you can be an Avenger.”

  
Daisy felt the smile she had tried to put on fade and almost lost hold of the dog stashed under her arms.

  
_“Is it true that Daisy is Tony Freaking Stark’s daughter?”_

  
”Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with SHIELD.”

  
She practically threw the napkin at the girl, gripped the freaked out dog and darted towards the clinic at a speed even Elena would have been proud of. She ignored the phone buzzing in her pocket because of course Simmons had to call right now of all times in order confirm what Daisy already knew. She’d known since that accidental match between the two samples. It had just felt...right. Real.

  
The bell ringing as the door opened and then slammed shut behind her was what snapped her back to reality. She felt the bees creeping in again, but she couldn’t lose it, not now and not here. Because this wasn’t the Playground. This was the real world with civilians all around and she wouldn’t be the one to hurt any one of them. Not because of this.

  
“Can I help you, miss?” A plump woman asked from behind the front desk, the nametag with Annie Frederick being slightly stained with coffee.

“I-Uhm…” The bees had slowed down to a slight itch on her skin, but for some shitty reason her mind had decided that now would be the best moment to go into the Simmons before HYDRA mode.

“Are you quite alright, dear?” The woman eyed her with both concern and suspicion and Daisy could have sworn there was recognition there. Damn Jeffrey Mace and his ways of making things right. And damn herself for going public in the first place.

“Yeah,” she somehow managed to breathe out as her brain restarted itself enough in order to show the Chihuahua to the woman. “I’m fine. But he isn’t.”

She wasn’t even sure if the dog was a he or a she, but then again, that was all part of the Simmons mode thing.

“She looks fine to me, dear! Surely whatever it is can wait a little….”

Great, Daisy though. This really wasn’t her day. Or her week, for the matter. Or year, if she came to think about it.

“Well, yeah…but she wasn’t fine this morning and…”

“I’m sorry dear, but Doctor Winslow has a very complicated surgery to deal with right now,” the woman looked Daisy over once again as if to make sure she wasn’t mistaken. “You could leave her here if you don’t want to wait, or....”

“I was actually hoping to…”

“…or, since my daughter is a huge fan, I could go in and pull him out for a moment, just for you.”

Daisy eyed the paper and pen handed her way for the second time that day. She was suddenly really keen on the idea of shaking a certain office at the Playground that was most definitely not underground.

Daisy grabbed the pen and as she scribbled something down for “Lily”, realized that there were weirder things than stealing a Chihuahua. Like an autograph as a bribe in order to talk to her father. Or…not her father at all.

As the woman left to get Doctor Winslow, Daisy allowed herself to wonder. Wonder what Cal would have thought if he’d known. If he’d known his beloved wife had cheated. If he had known the daughter he became a monster for had not been his. If he’d known that the two women that had been his life were just pretty lies tied with Inhuman bows.

If she hadn’t seen his friendly face and warm smile then, there would have been a good chance for a damn big quake. She knew she was losing control too easy and too fast, like all of May’s, Jiaying’s and Lincoln’s training had just rushed out the door with one simple name. Tony Stark.

“Hello there,” Daisy wanted to cry and laugh at the same time as she heard his voice, because this wasn’t fair. His whole life hadn’t been fair. But she had to do this. She had to say goodbye. “Annie tells me you’ve been quite persuasive. How may I help you, dear?”  
There it was again. The Simmons feeling. Like she couldn’t think, couldn’t improvise, couldn’t lie anymore. The only coherent though forming in her mind was a desperate I’m sorry.

“Oh, so this little guy is what all the fuss is about!” Cal – Doctor Winslow- exclaimed as he kneeled down to pet the Chihuahua.

So she had been right. The dog was a him after all. Another coherent though. She was making progress. Maybe she could actually open her mouth before he had to go back into surgery.

“He seems fine to me. Just a little scared. If this is about a routine checkup or a vaccine…”

Well, screw everything.

“Yeah, but he wasn’t fine this morning or last night and I’m pretty sure he would have thrown up everything by now if he’d eaten at all today…”

She absently realized she was talking about herself and noticed the way Annie was eyeing her like she’d gone crazy, but she had to say it. One way or another, she had to say it.

“Say no more,” Cal waved her off and turned around to face her with those so damn kind, reassuring eyes. “I’ll take a look at him right after I’m done with this thing…surgery, or I’m not quite sure how to call it. It’s complicated, you know?”

“Yeah,” Daisy managed to mutter. “I think I do.”

“Great!” Cal clapped his hands loud, and for a moment, Daisy was reminded of before. “So, you can pick him up in a few hours and he will be just fine.”

“That would be…” She’d wanted to apologize then, wasn’t sure how, but she had to get it out.

“The best day ever?”

Daisy stared at him then, horrified that she’d awaken some memories, that maybe Cal was piercing through.

“He says that a lot.” Annie said from behind the desk where she was dealing with the dog’s paperwork that of course Daisy did not have.

“Yeah,” Daisy sighed. “Something like that.”

As he started to make his way back into the clinic, Daisy realized she hadn’t said it yet.

“Doctor Winslow!” she called out, knowing well enough this was her last shot. “I’m really sorry for…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” He almost didn’t turn around and Daisy cursed herself for chickening out like this, for opening her mouth too late. But then he did turn around. And stared. Straight at her for the first time since she’d walked in.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” she could see the confusion creeping in on his face, the way he was trying to make connections that had been wiped from his mid.

“Oh…I checked out the place when it first opened two years ago.” She was panicking again, because not only had she not said what she wanted, but she was also digging into his memory by simply being here.

“Huh..I could have sworn I’ve seen you on TV.”

Daisy waned to laugh out loud then, because thank God it was about Quake. Annie winked at her as she finished up with the paperwork and patted the autograph for her daughter.

“Well, I have a pretty common face.” She ignored the look the woman threw her way and braced herself for what she had to do next.

“On the contrary, my dear. Could you give me a name?”

“Daisy. Daisy…Johnson.”

She saw him trying to pierce through again, veins pulsing on his neck like they had back when he’d been Cal. She almost regretted not telling him the surname she’d been given at the orphanage.

“What a lovely name,” There it was again - the calm, yet overly excited man, just like he’d always been since having his memory wiped. “Could have sworn I’ve heard it before.”

She opened her mouth but he cut her off yet again, whirling around towards the back room. “and don’t worry about the little on. He’ll be just fine with us. It’s a magical place.”

“He says that a lot as well.” Annie muttered loud enough for both of them to hear.

“Thank you, Dr. Winslow. And…” She breathed in and prayed that it would be enough. Not for him, because he would not understand. But for herself. “I really am sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused. I’m sorry for holding you up like that.”

There it was. I’m sorry I wasn’t born your daughter. Sorry she lied to you like that. Cheated. Sorry we both weren’t what you’ve though we were. You are a good man. Better than her. I’m sorry she played you like that.

“No problem at all.”

* * *

 

As the door closed behind, Daisy wanted to cry. And she would have teared up if he hadn’t been there.

But he was there, leaning on Lucy, smiling as wide as she’d ever seen him, too wide and too bright in his leather suit. She felt her stomach tightening painfully. He was still paler than normal and was holding himself differently now. Like the wounds still hurt every time he moved. Maybe they did.

“You were the best they could do?” she asked when she reached him, faking a smile as wide as his. Maybe all of this Cal thing had gotten into her head.

“You tell me,” he gestured towards the clinic behind her “I’m not the one who stole a dog from a teenage girl.”

“Yeah, well family sometimes means going to crappy great lengths, right?”

His smile faded then and she wanted to slap herself for implying something like that, when he’d barely made it out of that box. When he was still healing.

But when he opened his mouth, Daisy knew. Knew she hadn’t said her last goodbye for the day.

“They thought it might be better if I said it.”

* * *

 

May landed the Quinjet as smoothly as ever, like she was afraid it might shake and crumble to the ground. Afraid Daisy would lose it and kill all three of them.

She could absently hear Robbie calling out her name as they got out, but she didn’t care. If the alarm hadn’t gone off then, Daisy was pretty sure she would have screamed. And when it went up all the SHIELD newsfeeds, Daisy did scream. Because there was one thing for her father to be psychotic. One thing for his memories of her to be removed. One thing to find out he wasn’t her father after all. One thing to find out her father was actually Tony Stark. And another thing to find out Steve Rogers had just killed him.


	3. And Downhill We Dived

_"Oh, I wanna feel you in the dark_  
_I could use, I could use sun_  
_But all you left me with was scars_  
_And that's the hardest part_  
_There's nobody like you, nobody like you_  
_I've tried goodbye a hundred times, not one of them true_  
_Nobody like you, nobody like you_  
_I'm screaming "I don't want you" but you know that I do…"_

  
_"Nobody Like You" by Little Mix_

Phones had been buzzing all morning, reporters calling in for official statements, already wondering about the future of Stark Industries. How was it going to go on without a Stark genius behind it? Sure, Pepper had been a great CEO, a brilliant one even, but she was not the one with the ideas or the creative mind. What was going to happen to the fortune? To the Avengers?

  
Pepper Potts resisted the urge to throw the phone straight at the grand screen where journalists were recalling the news like a prayer, over and over until they had stamped everything into her head, a death march that wouldn't ever cease. She didn't do it because Tony had loved that TV. And because his face looked so out of place under those terrible headlines, yet so beautiful. God, he'd been so happy back then. It was one of the few times Pepper could say that he'd been genuinely and utterly happy.

  
The whimper that came out of her mouth felt foreign and distant to her own ears, like it belonged to another person, somebody who had had everything they'd ever cared about swiped away by a destructive wave – with only catastrophes left in its way.

  
"Tony"

  
His name, she realized. She'd called out his name as the news report carried on, a sole angel of death bringing sorrow and agony with a grim smile on its face. She'd thought her tears had dried out by now, that she didn't have it in her to weep anymore.

  
_"So many people died, Tony. I don't want this anymore…you…the suits…it's too much…"_

  
Her own words echoed in her head as the journalists announced it yet again - "Tony Stark killed by Captain America in Siberia". Pepper wrapped her arms around her round abdomen, the tears falling uncontrollably now, whimpers turned to hysterical pleadings and wishes that would never come true.

  
She'd lied.

  
Every single word that had come out of her mouth that day had been a lie. But when test after test had turned up positive and memories of Sokovia had kept her awake at night…

  
The hurt look on his face when she'd said those things. She out of all people, who knew more than anybody...about Clint, about Howard, about Hong Kong, about Afghanistan…

  
She knew how much Tony feared being rejected. How much he craved love and acceptance.

  
She'd thought it was the right thing to do. For her, for him, for their little girl…God she hadn't even told him…

  
Pepper buried her face in her hands, pulling at her bangs, digging her nails into the soft skin. The physical pain was almost comforting, because there was nothing that could compare to the pit that had formed in her chest.

  
She wondered if that was how Tony had felt all these years ago in Afghanistan, when he'd been plugged to that car battery, the arc reactor being the only thing keeping him alive.

  
Her whimpers came out chocked, her throat drying up, but she was drowning and drowning like Tony had been in that cave.

  
He had come home hurt the night when she'd ended things. He'd almost collapsed in their living room, and he'd kissed her so fiercely, like he'd thought he'd never see her again. He'd rambled about Steve miscalculating something while she'd just stood there instead of tending to him…

  
God, Steve.

  
Steve who'd known.

  
Tony had moved into the Avengers Facility after their spilt, leaving the Tower and the company to her. Steve hadn't known that when he's showed up last week to look for Tony. He'd congratulated her then, and even suggesting Margaret as a name.

  
God, how could he.

  
Pepper pulled at her hair harder, the scream refusing to come out.

  
She could hear rapid footstep approaching, probably Happy coming to check up on her after the news. But the pain in her chest, her heart, her soul...drowning, chocking, falling…she felt like she was dying.

  
When the glass windows shattered all around and the sound of the explosion numbed out everything else, Pepper was glad for the comfort nothingness provided.

* * *

  
There were exactly 42 cracks on the ceiling of her room at the Playground.

  
Daisy had counted them over and over for the past few hours, lying aimlessly on top of the covers, not even bothering to change out of her street clothes. Her head pounded from the outburst earlier, muscles sore and chest heavy, but she couldn't sleep. She'd never felt this way before when overusing her powers. Not at the very beginning and definitely not while in L.A.

  
She was exhausted both mentally and physically, like they'd just wrapped a though mission that would certainly keep bugging them in their sleep in the weeks to come. But sleep wouldn't greet her. Her eyes felt heavy and puffy as if she'd been crying. She hadn't shed a single tear since Robbie had told her. Just like she couldn't sleep, she couldn't cry either.

  
She was emotionally drained, she'd realized a while ago. And if she'd cried, it wouldn't have been for him. Or even over the idea of him. Because she hadn't known Tony Stark. She had never met him in the years she'd been with SHIELD. And she was not the same girl that had joined back then, obsessed and consumed by the search for her parents. She had a purpose now. A job she loved, people she cared about. Yes, she'd strayed from this path just months before. But that had been due to the loss of someone she'd loved. Not a stranger.

  
Everything she was feeling, the loss of control, going to see Cal...all because she couldn't take it. She couldn't take the idea of feeling lost again. Of not having an identity. She'd been able to move on from Cal and the Afterlife because she'd had herself. She'd become Daisy Johnson. Somebody that knew where she came from.

  
All she had now was the name of a ghost. A ghost with a legacy so big it made her feel like a complete waste. A genius inventor. A hero. Iron Man. SHIELD legacy.

  
What was she to that?

  
A homeless girl who had had to hack her way into SHIELD? He'd built what made him extraordinary with his own hands. She'd just gotten it from a crystal in a stupid cave with freaking Trip dying in the process because she'd been that stupid.

  
Quake.

  
God, she hated that name.

  
Daisy let out a low growl as she turned on her side, burying her face in the pillows. What the hell was wrong with her? A man had just died and here she was feeling sorry for herself.

  
No, he hadn't just died. He'd been murdered by...

  
She recalled the look on Coulson's face when she'd stepped out of the Quinjet. It was the look of somebody who'd had everything they'd ever believed in scattered on the wall along with their heart. He'd given her his condolences. And then he'd left. And boy was Daisy glad for that.

  
He hadn't been there when she'd lost it. When it had all finally sank in and Mace had mentioned...he'd mentioned Howard Stark as a founder of SHIELD. And what that made Daisy as an agent.

  
_"I thought the new face of SHIELD should be an Inhuman - didn't mean him, though…"_

  
She didn't want that. She hated the way Mace's face had lit up as he'd made that comment, in a way she had never expected him to look at her. He didn't even look at Coulson like that. Like an equal.

  
The knock on the door startled her more than it should have. She was losing focus now too. She opened her mouth to shoo the person away, not in the mood to make small talk about her newfound status as an orphan who hadn't even known her father. A status she was reconnecting with, actually.

  
But then the door opened and Robbie's head popped in, his face set in way she'd only seen when Gabe was concerned. He'd made that face before going after Eli.

  
"There's been an attack on Stark Tower. Mace asked me to fetch you."

* * *

  
"…the building blew up from inside, so it got to have been planted by somebody…"

  
"…over a hundred Stark Industries employees trapped in…"

  
"…Pepper Potts had been inside…"

  
"…Fury pulled some strings to forbade anybody but SHIELD to enter the building…"

  
Daisy tightened her gloves, the all too familiar feeling of both restraint and power slightly comforting the ache in her chest.

  
"How many?" she asked as she joined the others gathered around the holographic blueprint of the Tower, the 93 stories information making her feel the air inside the Quinjet cooling down.

  
Three pairs of eyes turned towards her, Fitz making several attempts to open his mouth open but falling miserably, Simmons eyeing the Director worryingly and Mace...Mace giving her that look again.

  
"How many...?"

  
"SHIELD teams," she clarified focusing on the blueprints instead of his face. Focusing on anything but his face. "How many SHIELD teams are already there?"

  
She caught Fitz's distressed look and the way Simmons suddenly studied the metal flooring. That was enough for her to raise her head and look Jeffrey Mace straight in the eye.

  
"Well…Agent Weaver has her best people surrounding the building to get a hold of what has happened before we get there…"

  
"Are you kidding me?" Fitz flinched at the sudden raise in her voice, but damn if she cared. "That's it? Over a hundred people dead in that ginormous building crumbling down any minute now and you bring what, a group of freaking scientists?"

  
"Daisy" May's voice ringed from the pilot's seat and Daisy whished Coulson had come along. But when the news of the attack had been added to the other horrific things of that day…he'd just…Daisy wasn't even sure where he'd gone. He'd slammed Lola's door so hard with his cybernetic hand that even Mack thought he'd broke it. And he'd just driven away.

  
"Agent Stark, with all due respect…"

  
She could hear the chocking noise that escaped from Fitz's lips as Mace raised his hand to comfort her for the millionth time that day.

  
"Johnson," she breathed out, fists clenched so hard in the gloves her joints were cracking under the quake that threatened to emerge. "Agent Johnson."

  
"Right, of course, my bad," His hand rested on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze that she resisted jerking off. "The state of the building…we can't risk our agents getting caught under wrecks as well. From what Agent Weaver had reported, it's safe to assume that anybody that has been in at the time of the explosion…"

  
And then she did push him off, almost using her powers, because damn, how strong was this guy?

  
"If assuming everybody's dead is your way of playing this, by all means go right ahead, but I'm sure as hell not leaving without checking first."

  
She turned her back on him and made her way to the farthest storage room of the Quinjet, not wanting to see the pity in the eyes of her two friends. She was glad Robbie had stayed behind. She couldn't take his sorry looks as well.

  
"That's what I was counting on!" Mace yelled after her, and Daisy almost smiled. Of course he had.

* * *

  
As May landed the Quinjet, Daisy was sure that if it hadn't been for what she was about to do, she would have thrown up straight away. The way the building looked now compared to the glorious images the media used to present…it was a skeleton. Half-crumbled to the ground, smoke emerging from the top floors, all gray and cement and shattered glass, it was a relic stating what the owner had become as well. Daisy felt her stomach tightening painfully and tried to ignore the looks FitzSimmons were undoubtedly sharing. She jumped out of the copilot chair without a second thought, brushing past May who thank God didn't look pitiful. No, May looked furious.

  
She was the first to get out of the Quinjet, not even bothering to care about protocol or the fact that the Direct was with them as well. She had to get out. She had to get in.

  
"Agent Weaver," Mace greeted the woman, but Daisy didn't even see her as she focused on a sole spot on the side of the building, an open alcove inside the frenzy of wreckage and destruction. "Agent Johnson is about to go in and…"

  
His voice became distant as she pushed her way through the debris, the headache from earlier threatening to come back knocking. The ground floor was gone, Daisy realized. As her eyes scanned the bits and pieces of everything scattered around, she couldn't help but remember the Director's premise. Lifting her eyes towards what had once been an incredibly high ceiling, she was glad for the hole going up an uncountable number of stories, smoke being more visible than she'd liked. The explosion had gone from the bottom to the top, that much was clear.

  
Setting herself up in the air, feeling the jump a little too much in the legs, Daisy went up and up, absently noticing the SHIELD DWARFs rummaging around in the chaos for anything that may tell them who the hell had done this.

  
Daisy didn't know why she'd stopped there. It wasn't even that high up, barley a few stories, but as she landed on the unsteady flooring and took in the graveyard she was standing in, she vomited there, lingering tremors going up her spine, because there were bodies, parts everywhere, and oh God, Mace had been right.

  
As her body slowly calmed, Daisy barely had time to notice the nearby DWARF being shattered to the ground, big chunks of plaster and debris coming straight for her head. She jolted up so suddenly she heard the bones in her right hand snapping as she went by story by story, away from the death waiting downstairs, stopping only when the smoke became dangerously close, and the scream of pain and horror finally escaped her lips.

  
Her legs hit carpet-like flooring and Daisy took in what had once been an enormous living room, at least five times bigger than their common room at the Playground.

  
Daisy almost fell back through the hole as she stepped onto something that felt too soft to be anything but human flesh.

  
The plump man was sprawled on the ground, and Daisy was glad his back was faced towards her. If she'd had any bile left she would have puked yet again, because she knew who this man was. She's seen him on the news all the time, following Tony Stark everywhere, always putting himself in front of the smaller man, like a wall between him and the hyped press. A shield. She knew his name - he had a funny name…

  
Happy.

  
That's how Tony Stark used to call him.

  
Daisy felt cold and warm at the same time, too warm and too cold, sweat running uncontrollably down her body, because it wasn't Happy Hogan on the ground anymore, it was Lincoln and then Trip and Izzy, and she had never thought that's how the people in Sokovia had felt like when their families had been killed.

  
She pushed her soaked hair back and searched the room franticly for a way out, a way that didn't involve going near that lower floor with so many people broken down.  
The glass windows. The shattered glass windows. She could jump from there, get on the street, find the team and get the hell out of New York. She had to go.

  
As she ran towards her escape out of this hell she'd been so stupid to enter, the beeping DWARF stopped her before soaring out and never looking back. It was a noise she could have sworn sounded an awful lot like a pleading and Daisy whirled around, noticing the suit half-lying under a fallen wall for the first time.

  
The red and gold were covered by the gray of dust, but she would have recognized one of those suits anywhere. Feeling suddenly dazed and dizzy, the pain in her right hand almost making her cry out, Daisy pushed the wall away, the vibration being less precise than she'd like, especially if she was about to make a jump so big.

  
As she kneeled beside the fallen figure, Daisy pictured a different scenery. The white lands of Siberia, where the red popped out like blood, and a blonde man was the one kneeling down.

  
Shaking off the though, Daisy gently touched the golden mask, expecting it to be empty. Just a sign, maybe a reminder for her - for SHILED - of the man that had built this fallen empire. So when the mask retrieved to reveal the face of a redheaded woman, horrified blue eyes staring back at her, very much alive, Daisy stumbled back, almost landing on her broken hand.

  
"Please" it was barley a whisper, filled with pain and tears and fear, but Daisy was on her feet, resting the woman's head in her lap, silently praying for the suit to be lighter than it looked. It wasn't.

  
And then to woman – Pepper, Daisy absently recalled – took her broken hand in hers and placed it on the suit's abdomen. And Daisy Johnson made the jump of her life.


	4. The Cracked Veneer

_“ You might be left with my hair, but you'll have your mother's eyes,_   
_…_   
_'Cause you were just a small bump unborn for four months then torn from life._   
_Maybe you were needed up there but we're still unaware as why. “_

  
_Small Bump – by Ed Sheeran_

  
The Playground was oddly silent for a Friday night. The time of the week when most agents took an unofficial break if things weren’t too hectic had long been forgotten, no beer cans in sight and no trace of Mack’s house records or of Daisy’s rock ones being heard. The usual chatter that filled the room had been reduced to the sole tapping of Gabe’s fingers on the leather couch, Elena’s demonstrations of Columbian salsa without wearing a stupid dress being replaced with the constant jiggle of Daisy’s legs as she vacantly stared at her phone’s clock.

  
Three hours.

  
Pepper Potts had been in surgery for three hours now, and in labor for over five. The image of her body covered up by the suit, stuck under that wall, most of the weight resting on her abdomen was glued to Daisy’s eyes, a constant reminder of the hell she’d witnessed.

  
Daisy suppressed a shiver that threatened to shake her body. Premature birth was not so rare these days, and Pepper was over 7 months along. But the way Jemma’s face had set when she’d first laid eyes on the woman…

  
_“If it comes down to one of them…”_ Daisy had gone white as Jemma had approached her with a questioning look, the fact that she was indeed expecting an answer making Daisy’s vison darken.

  
_“I don’t think it’s going to come to that,”_ Radcliffe had said, and Daisy had known.

  
She knew that when the common’s room door was going to swing open and Jemma would walk in, full of sorry and sadness and regret, there was only one way things could go. Because three beating hearts may had jumped out of that building, but only one was going to leave that operation room. Not two. That baby had been dying from the moment the bomb had exploded and not even Jemma Simmons could do anything about that.

  
Daisy could feel Robbie’s gaze fixed on her, as it had been ever since they had crashed on the black leather couch, the over-seized wool blanket from the Retreat resting aimlessly on top of her, because nothing could shake away the cold that had settled in her bones. Gabe was desperately trying to avoid looking at Daisy, cramped between her and the gnawed armrest that she knew could poke like hell. His fingers were now fidgeting with the loose ends of the blanket, the silence in the room becoming more and more unbearable by the second.

  
In any other circumstances, Daisy knew Gabe would have loved to be at the Playground. But she could see that by the way he held himself, he wanted nothing more than to roll the hell out of there as fast as he could. Admittedly, it would have been much more bearable if he’d gone downstairs to the garage with Fitz and Mack. Daisy was sure of that, but she couldn’t force him on the pair, not when Fitz had slammed his tablet on the worktable so hard the over-rugged screen had shattered.

  
They were all taking this hard. Not just her and Coulson. Jemma hadn’t had time to let everything sink in, being up since six in the morning to run more DNA tests. May was no doubly giving her team the midnight training of their lives and Elena was probably stalking Mace’s office door, waiting for another chance to give him a piece of her mind regarding the Accords.

  
The Accords. Everything had gone to hell because of the Accords.

  
Daisy and Robbie were supposed to sign them the next morning at a Senate hearing and attend a press conference with Mace afterwards. She wished she could go back to worrying about that. To have the energy to go over every single scenario of embarrassing herself that popped in her head. She wished she could feel hatred towards public appearances. Instead she felt numb. Numb and cold and stirred.

  
“You’re still going, right?”

  
Daisy jolted her head up, Robbie’s question wording the chaos in her mind perfectly.

  
“What?” better than saying ‘No’.

  
Robbie sighed. “Tomorrow. You’re no ditching me.”

  
He said it like there was no other way around it. And it shouldn’t have had to be. Daisy wasn’t even sure why she was backing out suddenly. Because of Pepper? Because of the press? Because she didn’t want to screw up again? And if she did, it’d be a written reminder that would never ever cease to exist.

  
“Are you?” Robbie’s question felt like that bullet had all those years ago. Making her choke and bleed inside because damn it, what the hell?

  
He’d signed them, God damn it.

  
“No, of course not,” she let it out like it was - hoarse and unsure and broken. She was suddenly longing for one of those misplaced beer cans.

  
She wouldn’t do it because she genuinely agreed with every single word written there. But if that was what needed to be done in order to make the hatred towards Inhumans die down, then so be it. Plus, he’d signed them. She didn’t know what had made him do it, and she hadn’t had the chance to ask Coulson about it. But Tony Stark had done it and that had to mean something.

  
The rusty door creaking behind made Daisy jolt upright, Gabe’s fingers ripping up fringes of wool as the blanket flew from his hands.

  
She expected Jemma to stand there, avoiding her gaze and murmuring apologizes and words of comfort. What she didn’t expect, however, was Phil Coulson looking straight at her with hollow eyes, all dark circles and wrinkled shirt, mouth open as if to say something that refused to get out.

  
Daisy absently registered her movement towards him, completely forgetting about the Reyes brothers, her arms darting up to wrap around him, because she needed him - she’d needed him all day - no matter how selfish that made her.

  
“Daisy,” Coulson whispered as his arms encircled her as well, the pain so real in his voice it made her shiver, because she knew Tony Stark had been an important name in his life, and him and Pepper were friends, God damn it.

  
“I’m so sorry,” she murmured in his shoulder. He’d been the one to comfort her, offer her condolences when it should have been the other way around. He was the one who had just lost both his childhood hero and his friend in the same day. Because as much as he’d denied it in the past, Daisy knew Coulson had thought about Tony Stark as a friend.

  
“I know kiddo, I know,” She couldn’t remember the last time he’d called her that. Maybe when she’d laid half-dead on a hospital bed after Quinn had shot her. Or maybe after Jiaying had tried to kill her.

  
Daisy squeezed her eyes shot at the thought of her mother, forbidding her mind to go there, to register her existence once again.

  
If Elena hadn’t walked in then, Daisy had no idea how long she could have clung to Coulson - to the only father she’d ever had, to the only father she would ever have -, the Reyes brother not daring to interrupt them.

  
“Mace has been asking for you, Agent Coulson,” Elena’s thick accent pierced through the room and Daisy let go to face the woman whose eyes were fixed on her as she said: “Colonel Rhodes is here.”

* * *

 

  
Her heart was pounding so loud she felt sick. Daisy stared at Coulson, silently begging him to do something, because she couldn’t face James Rhodes as well. It didn’t matter that he had no idea who she really was. It was like all the chaos Tony Stark had left behind was rushing in to ambush her, and Daisy wanted out.

  
“I’ll deal with it,” Coulson said, his hands rubbing out the impossible amount of wrinkles on his shirt, his eyes searching the room for any sign of his blazer. Or his tie. He hadn’t worn them when he’d come in. “You stay here. Simmons will…come to you first.”

  
He walked out without another word, leaving a very amused Elena behind.

  
“Who would have though Coulson was the type to cope with a one night stand and a few too many drinks?” the woman said, her eyes studying Daisy the way they had back when she’d been on the run. With lots of worry and a little judgment. “Also, he’s so clumsy.”

  
“Ok, first of all he wasn’t drunk…”

  
“He was sober now. But don’t tell me his breath wasn’t stinky…”

  
“It was not!” Daisy said, the realization that Elena was indeed right making her lips slightly crook into a smile.

  
“Oh, it was and you know it,” the older woman grinned, walking past Daisy and taking her seat on the couch, rubbing Gabe’s shoulder and murmuring something in Spanish to the young boy. “Plus, it almost made you stop moping.” Elena smiled at Daisy once again, tilting her head so their eyes met.

  
“You should go, you know,” the woman went on, picking up the blanket and throwing it across the room. Daisy knew how much she hated it. “Talk to that man. It could help you both.”

  
“And what, hold a sign? I’m your dead best friend’s long lost daughter?”

  
“Not like that,” Elena was facing her now, resting her head on the couch and suddenly looking way too tired. “Not as…that.”

  
“Then as what?” she lashed out harsher than she’d liked. But then again, she didn’t know what she wanted anymore.

  
“As the agent that saved that woman,” Both Daisy and Elena were taken aback by Gabe’s sudden decision to speak his mind. He’d seemed to want nothing to do with any of this.

  
“A hero,” he murmured more quietly, but Daisy heard him none the less.

  
She snorted at that, raising her arms aimlessly in the air. “Yeah, right. What a great hero I am.”

  
“We’re just trying to help,” Robbie cut in, sharper than ever, just as she’d acted towards Elena.

  
Damn, she was making a mess of things.

  
“Yeah,” Daisy said rubbing her eyes with her good hand, her vision blurry and dark all of a sudden. “I know…I just can’t…”

  
“Agent Johnson?” Mace’s head popped in, more restless than she’d ever seen him. “Colonel Rhodes has asked to speak with you. Privately.”

  
Great.

* * *

  
As her and Mace walked side by side towards the air shed, Daisy wondered if she should apologize for her outburst earlier. Or if he should apologize again. Come to think about it , defiantly not. She wasn’t sure if she could stand hearing him speak at the moment. So sure of himself, all team power and bullshit…yeah maybe she shouldn’t bring it up either.

  
They were almost there when he started talking, and Daisy was tempted to just whirl around towards the exit and get lost in Boston for good. “Agent Johnson, listen…”

  
“Don’t. Just don’t,” her back was faced towards him as he’d stayed behind, one step right meaning running away and never looking back, one forward meaning…she didn’t want to know what. “I can’t take any more pity right now.”

  
“Ok,” Jeffrey Mace said before turning around and disappearing into the base, leaving her alone with a choice. She knew everyone would be furious if she ran now. She didn’t even have her stuff with her. Coulson would be heartbroken. May would probably hunt her down and kick her ass. Fitz and Simmons would say she’d ditched them again like she always did. And Robbie…God, Robbie would be furious.

  
Shaking her head, Daisy took out her level rainbow or blue or whatever pass and stepped into the shed, expecting the worst and being faced with…

  
Next to one of the smaller Quinjets, almost hidden away by the Zephyr was a man in a wheelchair fancier than Gabe’s, his head bowed down and resting in his hands as if he were crying, but no sound could be heard expect for her uncertain footsteps. He was tall, she noticed, or rather he had been. But next to the Quinjet and the Zephyr - crouched like that - he looked just as Pepper had inside the suit. Small and broken.

  
“Sir?” Daisy ignored the slight tremor in her voice as she approached him, resting one hand on the Quinjet as her vision begun to blur again. Long day indeed.

  
His head shot up then and she noticed that he had indeed been crying, but not right now. His eyes were puffy and bright at the same time, tired and kind and…shit.

  
He frowned as his eyes set on her, almost blinking away a few times. “Agent Johnson?” his voice was hoarse and full of uncertainty, as if he didn’t expect her to be...her.

  
Daisy didn’t know what to say. Her mind shut down completely, full of what ifs and Jiaying and why the hell hadn’t she ran when she’d had the chance. So she just nodded, judging by the way his hands were suddenly moving as if to apologize that her face must have been as freaked out as her mind.

  
“Sorry, I just…” he sighed, rubbing way too hard at his already sore eyes. “I thought I knew you for a moment there.”

  
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

  
Then it hit her. A simple word she both loved and hated, which seemed to have been defining the past six months of her life.

  
“Quake?” she asked it almost too hopeful, but it was the better alternative to everything that was running through her mind. The best alternative.

  
“Oh,” he stared at her again, those hunted eyes taking in her baggy clothes and the smudged eyeliner under her eyes. “Right. Coulson didn’t mention that. And since the press didn’t…you know.”

  
She did know. Mace had pulled some strings and they had managed to stop any video or photo of Daisy at the explosion from leaking. She knew it was temporary. Probably only for a few more hours. Her hopes were that she would go unnoticed till the conference tomorrow, but she doubted it at the same time.

  
A few hours without the press raving about Quake were enough however. She supposed she should thank Mace for that.

  
“Yeah,” she said as she kneeled down next to him, suppressing the urge to squeeze his hand in comfort. ”I know.”

  
She suspected he wasn’t like this all the time. Unsure and just…ruined. But then again, nobody had been the same since the news had broken.

  
“I wanted to thank you for what you did for Pep,” his eyes were fixed on the farthest Quinjet, fingers fidgeting on the wheels of his chair. “Neither Tony or I knew about her pregnancy.” His voice broke on his friend’s name and Daisy had to look away for a moment.

  
She realized then that she had no right. No right to grieve and no right to feel sorry for herself.

  
“Smart girl,” his laughter came out chocked, a strange variant of a cry. “Had us both fooled.” His eyes had moved from the Quinjet to the hard ceiling. ”I just wish he’d known.” His last words were a mere whisper, meant more for himself than her, and Daisy felt suddenly out of place and very very wrong.

  
She had to say something, anything because otherwise there was a good chance of her darting out the door and going God knows where.

  
She stared at him then, at the way his legs were so still and dead, at the wheelchair that looked as wrong flanked by a soldier as that crumbled building had.

  
“Did…did Steve do this to you?”

  
He met her eyes then and squeezed his right knee, as if attempting to make himself feel anything. Even pain. “Might as well put it that way.”

  
He fixed the Quinjet again, and for the first time that day, Daisy felt rage. Rage towards a man she didn’t even know, that had taken nothing away from her, but everything from this man and that poor woman. And they were both going to have something else taken away soon.

  
“I was supposed to have surgery today, you know…But then Tony and Pepper and I…I just had to see her.”

  
Daisy felt cold again. Oh God.

  
“This baby is…the last piece of him left. Everything else…the Tower…it’s all gone.”

  
Daisy darted upright, suppressing the quake at the last moment, her broken hand screaming in agony. She tried to keep silent, but he was looking at her, concerned and questioning and she knew she had to get out now.

  
“I’m sorry…I just…” she sprinted toward the door, past Coulson, Mace, May and everyone else, past the common room and Robbie Reyes, up the stair and…

  
She’d known in the back of her mind where she was headed. The pain was too unbearable for any other choice.

  
So when she reached the hallway leading toward the labs and medical rooms and bumped straight into Simmons, whose eyes were so red and puffy, everything numbed out. The pain, her thoughts, James Rhodes’ words. Everything quieted down.

  
“Daisy,” was all Jemma managed to say. All she had to say.

  
The older girl cradled her head to her chest, Daisy clinging to her with everything she could, her hand hanging down weightless as they both cried.


	5. Shiny As Wax

_“I told you something_  
_that I felt was true._  
_…_  
_Because some nights_  
_I sit and I tear myself apart_  
_searching_  
_for something that I didn't_  
_screw up.”_

_Screw-up by Kyra Elise_

“You look like shit.”

  
Daisy groaned as May entered the common room, face set in a way that promised the toughest 6 am training session her team had ever received.

  
“I’ve seen worse.” Robbie muttered under his breath, and Daisy snorted because damn, she really didn’t want to think about L.A right now.

  
“Have you slept at all?” May was busy trying to find her “Mamma Duck” mug and boy was Daisy glad for that. One look of eternal judgment would have been enough to change her mind about going to the hearing.

  
“Yeah,” Daisy nodded her head “Between the why didn’t I get there faster thoughts and the why do I even exist ones, I’d say I slept pretty decently.”

  
“It’s not your fault.” May murmured before successfully retrieving her mug from under the still cooling pan FitzSimmons had made breakfast in not too long ago.

  
“You didn’t see him last night…all that hope and love put into the idea of this child…”

  
“Exactly,” May whirled around, bag of black tea in hand, “The idea of it. An idea which you embody…”

  
Robbie sighed, as Daisy avoided looking at her S.O, the thought of having this conversation again making her sick.

  
“Don’t,” She raised her good hand defensively, trying to push the guilt that threatened to resurface away, “Just don’t. Simmons has already tried.”

  
“You do realize you’re gonna have to tell them eventually. It’s not like you kept it a secret in the first place.”

  
“Well, maybe I should’ve.”

  
“Daisy,” May slammed the kettle on the counter, making both her and Robbie jump. “How long do you think it’s going to take before one of the Koenig twins storms in and says something about it? Or before Mace makes one of his subtle comments?”

  
“I don’t know.” She lowered her eyes again, realizing how much the idea of the twins freaked her out right now.

  
“You’re doing it again.” May announced, all the anger meant for her team being aimed straight at Daisy “Shutting us out. Drowning inside because you’re too damn proud to ask for our help.”

  
She’d never pictured herself as proud before. Selfish, yes. But never proud. She’d been on her own for so long, she now strived for the lonely moments when things got too hard to bare.

  
“Listen to me,” May gritted her teeth, “I’m not going to sit around and watch you do this to yourself. To Coulson. God knows how many shocks he can take after this. So you either suck it up and accept it as it is, or I’ll be the one to drop you off in L.A. No need for a bus this time.”

  
With that the Cavalry strode out of the common room, mug in hand, with a very stunned Robbie Reyes still staring at the colorful writing.

  
On any other day Daisy would have told him the story behind a very unfortunate Christmas gift from one Sam Koenig. But nothing seemed quite the same as it did one year ago.  
Daisy let out a loud sight, making Robbie turn his attention back to her.

  
“I’d come with you, you know,” He offered, half a smile creeping on his lips, “If she shipped you off. So would Gabe. He doesn’t take this whole homeschooling thing that well anyway.”

  
She would have laughed if she’d had the energy to, but she doubted she could do anything right at this point. “I thought about it, you know…More times than I could remember just last night.”

  
Robbie only nodded, and Daisy was glad Coulson had called him in. That one night in L.A, when she’d let herself cry over Lincoln’s death and he’d just sat there listening had made it a tiny bit more bearable.

  
“Being Daisy Johnson, Quake or whatever…that was a bunch of levels of hardcore on its own…but I don’t think I can handle being this, whatever it is.”

  
“Who says you have to?” His question made her raise an eyebrow, wondering whether he’d paid attention at all.

  
“Didn’t you just hear the part where she’d throw me out if I don’t embrace being...whatever.”

  
“That’s not what she meant. Or what I meant for the matter.”

  
Daisy shook her head, wanting him to stop, because he was starting to sound too much like Simmons for what she could take right now.

  
“You don’t have to be anyone you don’t want to be. But she’s right, Daisy. You didn’t keep it in the first place. And they deserve to know. The way that man looked last night….”  
She rolled her eyes at that, because damn she did know that. It had been one of the main things keeping her up, but she was too selfish to want to do something about it.

  
“What happens afterwards, that’s up to you. No one’s telling you to put it all over the news. Or to have a relationship with either one of them. Just get it off your chest. It’s eating you up.”

  
“I don’t think now it’s the right time.” She let out part of the truth. Better than showing Robbie how selfish she actually was.

  
“It’s not. But it’s gonna get out. And it’s better if they hear it from you rather than Billy or Sam.”

  
“Just…How do you even tell that to someone after…?”

 

  
“After what?”  
The door cracked open and Colonel James Rhodes rolled in, all puffy-eyes and dark bags, and Daisy wanted to run all over again. Her heart pounded in her chest and her body tensed so much it hurt as his eyes wondered curiously between her and Robbie. What the hell was she supposed to say? How much of their conversation had he heard? What if…?

  
“We’re signing the Accords today. Senate hearing and all that fancy stuff. Not really our thing.”

  
The man nodded as he studied the leftovers of FitzSimmons’ cooking. “Tony used to drag me to these things all the time. I hated them at first too. Eventually they didn’t bother me as much, but he loved the attention…”

  
His words died in his throat as he realized what he’d said, and Daisy felt her cheeks burning. Another thing she didn’t share with her father.

  
“Not sure we’ll get that lucky though,” Robbie gently touched her shoulder, nudging her to say something. “This one Senator kind of has it out for us.”

  
That did spark the man’s interest as he rolled closer to the couch, abandoning the improvised kitchen completely.

  
“What’s his name?”

  
Daisy wanted to kiss Robbie for bringing that up and for leaving the sorrow of Tony Stark behind for now.

  
“Her. Ellen Nadeer,” Daisy rolled her eyes as she spoke the woman’s name. If only they could prove her involvement with the Watchdogs. That would have been something to make Daisy sleep a tiny bit better at night.

  
James Rhodes suppressed a laughter that seemed foreign on his tired face. “I remember her from after the Chitauri attack. Highly opposed to...anything really, but harmless none the less. Just one great way of toying with words.”

  
“If only you knew,” Daisy muttered, her mind wondering back to Pepper and the events of yesterday. She knew she shouldn’t ask, shouldn’t bring it up after Robbie had dodged it so gently, but she had to know.

  
“How is she?” she blurted it out before she’d get the chance to chicken out and ignored Robbie’s horrified glare.

  
“Still sleeping,” His eyes darken and Daisy resisted pushing him more. “I don’t think she’s realized it yet really. She was barely conscious.”

  
Daisy could only nod, as the other alternative was a bunch of questions she should have asked Simmons earlier. But she hadn’t because Jemma had decided to tutor her on her own life instead.

  
“Good luck with Nadeer. I’m sure you’ll both do great,” with that he rolled out as smoothly as he’d come in, a ghost of a soldier and of a friend.

  
“What the hell, chica?” Robbie rubbed at his eyes, attempting to shoo the tiredness away.

  
“Don’t give me that look,” Daisy rolled her eyes before exiting the common room as well.

* * *

  
“Next up is Senator Nadeer.” Daisy resisted the urge to shake the shit out of the whole room as Ellen Nadeer eyed her with all the hatred towards Inhumans that lurked inside her small frame, passing over Robbie as if he wasn’t even there.

  
Mace tensed slightly as well, but not because of the Watchdogs’ number one fan. No, Mace had barely paid attention during the hearing, his eyes darting from the door to his watch, waiting for God knows what. He’d been as worthless as the pills Simmons had given her for the pain, and Daisy almost hissed as her broken hand throbbed.

  
“Agent Johnson, as an Inhuman yourself, do you feel more responsibility to help Inhumans than normal Americans?”

  
Harmless as a wolf, indeed.

  
“Well, first of all, Inhumans are normal. Let's be clear about that,” That did spark Mace’s interest, who seemed as horrified by her words as he did by the delay to his probably upcoming meeting. ”But with regard to whom I'll help, I'm here for all Americans. But more often than not, Inhumans are left to fend for themselves with few resources.”

  
“So Inhumans cause more trouble.”

Just like your Government’s super soldier has just done. Daisy knew even the Accords couldn’t fix things if she’d said that, so she bit her tongue, avoiding Robbie’s worried gaze. Mace had simply gone back to staring at his watch.

  
“No. Inhumans are more likely the victims of hate crimes, which is not fair. They are our friends; they are our co-workers, our brothers. They all deserve help, wherever they may be.”

  
Just like Tony Stark had. He’d deserved to be heard earlier. To be helped earlier, instead of ignored at first because he’d broken The Accords.

  
“Agent Johnson, let's discuss your theft of more than $7 million from three banks while you were undercover from SHIELD. Illegally acquired funds going towards illegal activity.”

  
Shit.

  
Shit.

  
Shit.

  
“With all due respect, Senator,” Mace’s voice had never sounded better to Daisy’s ears, as her fingers began fidgeting with the cast holding her hand. “The U.S. government has somehow recovered those funds. The money has been distributed to - worthy causes.”

 

“I see. So you took the entire justice system into your own hands.”

  
Might as well should’ve.

  
“I was working as a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative…”

  
“Without signing the Accords, so either you committed an illegal act by robbing banks or S.H.I.E.L.D. committed an illegal act by using an unauthorized enhanced agent.”

  
“The Accords weren’t even a thing back then,” Robbie’s outburst made both Daisy and Mace stare his way.

  
“And whose fault was that, Mr. Reyes?” It was the first time Nadeer was acknowledging Robbie’s presence, and Daisy wanted nothing more than for the Ghost Rider to come out and scare the shit out of the woman.

  
“Certainly not Dais – Agent Johnson’s.” Robbie muttered. What the hell was she implying with that?

  
“No, indeed not. But to answer your request, Agent Johnson, if Tony Stark hadn’t delayed the passing of the Accords so much…”

  
What. The. Hell.

  
Her blood was boiling as much as the bees were piercing her skin. The stories were mixed and she trusted Secretary Ross even less than she trusted Nadeer. Coulson had said the man had been the one to stop the first team to reach Siberia.

  
None the less, she knew it had been Steve. The one to delay the Accords. Rhodey had mentioned it to Robbie last night and that was one man she did trust.

  
So What. The. Hell.

  
“How long do you think this is going to last?” Daisy blinked, the bees killed by Jeffrey’s Mace impossible concern for whatever.

  
With a loud snort, Daisy almost walked out of the hearing, let the Accords be damned. But then Nadeer touched on the one subject she couldn’t, wouldn’t ruin. The attack on Stark Tower. And how it had to have been the last stunt pulled by Tony Stark himself.

  
So Daisy Johnson swallowed the pride she indeed had, and prepared to wipe the floor with Ellen Nadeer.

* * *

  
“Are you out of your mind?”

  
Daisy raised an eyebrow at Coulson’s outrage, as she collapsed on one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs in the hallway. She almost took off her stilettos, but stopped when Coulson kept going.

  
“You bring up her brother once, fine, that’s your call. But you publicly accuse her of funding the Watchdogs when we have no proof whatsoever and then what, reveal classified SHIELD information about Simmons’…”

  
“Okay, one she did all of the above. Second, she practically kidnapped Simmons to babysit her brother’s cocoon because a – he was so damn terrified of her – and b – she freaking killed her own brother…”

  
“And it was your call to call her out when SHIELD is barley getting by in the public eye…”

  
“Three,” Daisy raised her voice, attempting to cover his own “She let us sign the Accords in the end, so everything’s fine.”

  
“No, Daisy nothing’s fine at all! You think she won’t come after us? Try to bring SHIELD down any way she can?”

  
“Good. Let her.” Daisy smoothed her suit’s pants, wanting nothing more than to feel the leather of her Quake gear on her skin, rather than the soft material.

  
“Daisy!”

  
She did raise her head at his shout, because there was more there. Why did you let her get in your head? Why now? And worst of all – Who are you becoming?

  
“Is everything ok?” General Talbot’s voice pierced through Coulson’s anger and Daisy’s sudden guilt as he marched into the hallway visibly looking for someone who wasn’t there.

  
Coulson opened his mouth to say something, but the general ignored him, looking at Daisy with something that looked an awful lot like admiration. And Daisy wasn’t sure she liked it.

  
“Nice show you put on in there, Richter girl. Nadeer’s been a pain in my ass ever since New York, not to mention Ross. It’s good to see her finally go down for a while.”

  
Daisy wasn’t sure how to react, and Coulson looked as if he wanted to punch Talbot in the face with his robotic hand.

  
“By the way, have you two seen Mace? We were supposed to have a meeting not too long ago, and asshole ditched me apparently.”

  
“You’ve just missed him,” Daisy managed to let out. So that’s what Mace had been fussing about.

  
Talbot nodded and whirled around, as Coulson found his voice, ready to yell at her again.

  
“Don’t bother,” she announced before getting up. “I need to get ready for the press conference.”

  
“We’re not done yet.” He sounded calmer than earlier, but after 4 years Daisy knew well enough that a calm Coulson could be the worst option.

  
So she just nodded and walked away, ready to ditch the heels and go back to moping.

* * *

  
“You’ve got to be kidding me,”

  
Whether the events of the last 36 hours were catching up with or this was simply the last stroke, Daisy couldn’t tell.

  
The press conference had gone to hell as soon as it had begun. She knew it was her fault, that she’d triggered Nadeer. And she would have cared. Hell, she would have blamed herself, been furious at how stupid she’d acted, because Mace could have been killed. And not just him, but Coulson and Mack as well.

  
She would have felt something, anything, as the team was gathered inside the Zephyr, Simmons tending to Mace, if the Hero of Sokovia hadn’t been fake.

  
The journalist caught in the battle, with his newfound Inhuman strength, saving that woman and helping her get to the boat.

  
Fake.

With Cal’s super soldier’s formula in his veins.

  
“Cal’s formula,” She breathed out, staring at Talbot who hadn’t said a single word since they’ve rescued their teammates. “Cal’s formula.”

  
“Daisy,” Coulson warned her, but damned if she cared anymore.

  
“It was the fastest way we could get SHIELD running again,” Talbot sighted avoiding her gaze and instead fixing Coulson like he should be the one dealing with her right now.

  
“So you decided to what, slowly kill him and make him go nuts in the process? Might as well give him Banner’s formula then.”

  
“Because you weren’t here!” May’s shout made everyone freeze for a moment and Daisy recalled Coulson’s words from when she’d come back.

  
_"I thought the new face of SHIELD should be an Inhuman - didn't mean him, though.”_

  
“I wanted to help,” Mace groaned. “To be the hero everyone suddenly saw me as. To be…more.”

  
“Like what?” Daisy ignored May’s warning glare. Screw everything.

  
“A patriot.”

  
Daisy snorted, and brushed past May and Talbot on her way to the Quinjet. “Patriot my ass.”

  
Only when she reached the Quinjet did Daisy allow herself to cry. Cry because she’d screwed up. She’d screwed up so bad.

  
Mace’s cover wouldn’t have been blown had it not been for her. She shouldn’t have lost it with Nadeer. But it was like the moment the woman had said Tony Stark everything had gone numb. It seemed like that’s how it had been ever since she’d found out.

  
And she hated herself for it. And worse, both Coulson and May were angry at her. Robbie hadn’t spoken a word to her since the hearing. Simmons was too busy taking care of everyone to listen to her and Fitz –

  
“Mind if I join you? It’s quitter up here.”

  
And despite her tears, Daisy did smile before throwing her arms around him, because yet again, he was the one that never gave up on her. Just like the time she turned.

  
And Fitz held her as she cried, and murmured comforting shit that neither one of them believed, but that in the moment promised the moon and the stars.

  
“Do you ever think about how easy it would’ve been if…” Daisy began after her tears had tried, still holding on to him like he’d vanish in a second.

  
“If Simmons hadn’t mixed you blood sample with the Avengers’?” Fitz continued, gently stroking her short waves.

  
“That as well. But no. If we hadn’t left the Bus? If everything hadn’t gone to hell? No Ward, no HYDRA…Just the Bus kids and those stupid missions around the world? Different countries, different cities, different hotel every night…”

  
“Different bar,” Fitz laughed and Daisy couldn’t help but join in. “Yeah, I do. All the time.”

  
They stayed like that until the alarm busted through the Zephyr and into the Quinjet, and Daisy felt hear heart tighten.

  
Not again.

  
Fitz‘s phone buzzed and as his eyes scanned the screen, color draining from his cheeks, Daisy prayed harder than ever that nobody else had died.

  
“There’s an escape attempt at The Raft.”

  
“Let me guess,” Daisy said, all the anger and rage from earlier suddenly crawling back. “Steve Rogers.”


	6. On the Tongue

_”Just stop your crying_  
_It's a sign of the times_  
_We gotta get away from here_  
_We gotta get away from here_  
_Just stop your crying_  
_It'll be alright_  
_They told me that the end is near_  
_We gotta get away from here”_

  
_“Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles_

  
Daisy pinned her eyes on Phil Coulson as he barked orders to people on the Zephyr, while Mace nodded and occasionally let out obnoxious sounds of agreement. She’d never asked, she realized it now. How those moments on Maveth with Ward had felt like. How it felt to be so close to the person responsible for so much of your sorrow and grief, to know their life hanged on one snap of your fingers.

  
Hive had been different. Because that had been a monster, an atrocity that had to be removed from this world. Not a person she’d known beforehand, despite the face and memories he’d shared with Grant Ward. She’d wanted him to suffer. To feel what she’d felt when she’d woken up from his control, when her betrayal to SHIELD, to her friends, to her family had sunk in.

  
She never could’ve hurt Ward the way she’d hurt Hive. She hadn’t had it in her then and she didn’t have it in her now.

  
So as the Raft became more and more visible, an unnatural form rising from the ocean, tidal waves attempting to shadow what lurked beneath them, Daisy wondered where the rage and anger from earlier had gone.

  
She didn’t feel anything.

  
And it scared her in a way nothing had ever done before.

  
Steve Rogers was a hard man to kill. With the serum flowing through his veins, heightening every cell in his body, his healing capacity and his pain tolerance, he was everything Grant Ward hadn’t been.

  
None the less, she wasn’t Phil Coulson either. Even with his metal hand, he was no match to what her quakes could do if the vibrations were at the right frequency. She’d never considered it before, never thought it would ever come that. That she’d ever want to do it.

  
_“Do you have what it takes to pull the trigger?”_

  
Ian Quinn’s words echoed in her head. He’d certainly had it when it came to a helpless young girl who couldn’t, wouldn’t pull the trigger.

But she wasn’t that girl anymore.

  
“Daisy.” Fitz whispered from where he’d sat ever since they’d come down from the Quinjet, only a few feet away from her, not daring to leave her out of his sight. As her eyes met those worried, terrified blue orbs, Daisy knew.

  
She knew, as Donnie Gill’s body flew before her eyes over and over again, she didn’t have it in her.

  
She couldn’t pull the trigger this time either.

  
And suddenly the numbness was gone, but it wasn’t anger and rage overwhelming and chocking her as air refused to fill her lungs. Just like Donnie had felt like. It was fear. Fear of screwing up, of having another death to live with, of becoming the person Hive had shaped her into.

  
And in that moment Daisy realized why she kept running away. Not because she couldn’t live with her emotions or because she didn’t want to burden others.

  
Daisy Johnson was a coward and in spite of everything, she knew she’d run again as soon as things got too though. As soon as it’d come to a tough call she couldn’t make. And it terrified her.

  
Turning away from Fitz as another disturbing thought clouded its way into her tired mind, Daisy marched towards Coulson, passing by a dead silent Melinda May.

  
“How was he when they brought him in?” she blurted out, receiving a wide-eyed glare from Coulson as he abandoned whatever message he had been sending to Secretary Ross, no doubt. “I know that’s where you went after the news broke, I don’t care what Elena says.”

  
The man sighted, suddenly looking older than Daisy had ever seen him, all the bitterness and desolation of the last four years painted on his face in a horrible, miserable way.

  
“He was…different. And not different in the way you’d expect, horrified by what he’d done or remorseful in any way. He was – “

  
“Hollow.” Daisy tried, voicing her earlier feelings as best as she could, as she failed to stop her voice from breaking, flashes of a ship in Spain playing in front of her eyes.

  
“Worse.” Coulson said, his eyes distant, lost on a planet far away, with a man who’d done so many unspeakable things and whom he’d once called his friend. “He didn’t care. He passed me by as if I were another prison guard, a stranger. And not just me, but Barnes and the others as well.”

  
Coulson shook his head, the look on his face making Daisy’s heart break for a man who’d lost so much of himself, but who against all odds kept going. “Even his eyes were different…That wasn’t – That wasn’t the man I knew. It was somebody else.”

  
Daisy nodded as her earlier thoughts rushed back, fear intertwining with them in a way that made her feel cold all of sudden. Not the familiar fear she’d been living with all her life – the one of screwing up. No, she’d only felt like this twice, with Quinn in that basement and on that roof, with Malick towering over her as her mind had started to slip away.

  
“Don’t,” Coulson said, his robotic hand reaching out to her as if attempting to show the emotional scars that still lurked deep down. “It’s not worth it. Ward was. This isn’t.”

  
“I’ve never asked - “Daisy started, but Coulson shook his head, shoving away every inch of Grant Ward that still haunted him.

  
“Don’t,” he repeated, eyes darting back toward the screen in front of him. “Don’t lose yourself to this. It’s not what any of us would want. What they would’ve wanted. Lincoln or Tony.”

  
And Daisy nodded, backing away slowly, a plan suddenly clear in her mind, a way to maybe fix things. To fix herself.

  
“I meant what I said earlier, you know.” Coulson’s voice slowed her down, but she didn’t dare turn around and meet his eyes. “We still have to talk about what happened with Nadeer.”

  
And Daisy kept going, because if things went right at The Raft, if Steve Rogers didn’t crush her and she didn’t crush him, that conversation would be postponed for a while.

  
“You’re leaving.” May said as Daisy reached her sole spot near the improvised changing room, quiet enough for Phil Coulson to be oblivious to it. But she had heard everything.

  
“Not like last time,” Daisy noted, hopeful because of the woman’s calm and steady voice. She had been yelling at her for so long, it felt good to hear her like this. Like maybe she’d understand. “I can’t sleep. I though seeing Cal was going to fix it or that maybe this would but I keep going back to the Tower, like there’s something we’re missing and I - “

  
“FitzSimmons are looking into it. If anybody’s going to find out what happened, it’s them.” Not a disapproval, but a mare observation of what she’d been telling herself as well.

  
“I know, I just –“ Daisy eyed the hard walls of the plane, as if hoping for a sign that wasn’t there. “I just need to be alone for a while. I’m a mess and you know it. And I can’t fix myself here, with everybody out of their way to help me when I don’t even know what’s wrong with me.” She felt the tears stinging her eyes and she blinked faster, cursing them for refusing to fall when they should’ve. “And I need to start in New York.”

  
“Ok.” May said, getting up and motioning for Daisy to follow her. “I’ll drop you off.”

  
As the woman led her to where a very uncomfortable Robbie Reyes was waiting for them, Daisy almost smiled. “In the meantime, you and Mr. Reyes are going to meet with the best agent we’ve ever had. Bobbi comes close second and you,” May turned to look at Daisy as she spoke, pride visibly sparking in her eyes. ”Come third. But nobody can beat Nat.”

* * *

 

  
Natasha Romanoff was as beautiful as the stories told, fiery and gracious in a feline way, posture almost regal as she stood in the otherwise empty hallway deep inside the Raft, eyebrows slightly twitching as Daisy and Robbie entered, her green eyes cutting through them like the knives undoubtedly hidden by her suit.

  
“The Earthquake and the Ghost,” she started as soon as the door slammed shut behind them, and Daisy suddenly felt small. Small and weak as the gazelle right before the leopard made its jump. “What a lovely duo you two make.”

  
No, Natasha Romanoff wasn’t just beautiful. She was a predator. And as her piercing eyes passed over Robbie without a second glare, Daisy knew she was the pray.

  
She almost looked away the first second their eyes met, but knew May had trained her better than this. So Daisy tried to study the woman the same way she was being looked over, but almost missed the small surprise and recognition that passed those sculptured features. And then she did look away, her body tensing as she wondered for the first time whether it had been that obvious all those years.

  
“I guess Bobbi didn’t mention that.” The woman noted, her head tilting slightly as if to get a better angle, and Daisy had to suppress a shiver. “How long have you known?”

  
God, she knew where to hit. “Two days.” Daisy gritted her teeth, her chin moving upwards almost unnoticeably as the Black Widow nodded.

  
“It’s a shame.” She said at last, and Daisy could have sworn there had been sadness and regret in her eyes for a moment.

  
“Bobbi only had good things to say about you, which is rare and frankly, I trust her with my life,” Realizing the Stark conversion was indeed over Daisy wondered just how much had Bobbi Morse bragged about her to her Avengers friends. “But, she didn’t mention anything about him,” The woman pinned Robbie with her icy glare, and Daisy was glad that for once she wasn’t Natasha’s priority. “So tell me, Earthquake, do you trust him?”

  
It was Daisy’s turn to raise an eyebrow, and she wished May had come with them instead of taking over an upper level. “Yeah. We went through some pretty shitty things these past few months.”

  
“Good,” Natasha said before turning on her heels and walking towards the far end door. “The whole system is down. The last secure areas went down right after you landed. I have no idea how a guy who needed two days to learn how to answer his phone managed to do that, but we could all make a lucky guess.”

  
“Wait,” Daisy said, leaving Robbie behind in order to catch up with the woman. “You’re saying someone’s helping this guy?”

  
The look on Natasha’s face could’ve been taken out of May’s look book, but Daisy went on, her mind racing. “Just let me log in through my phone, maybe I can get through their hack. This could be connected to what happened at the Tower.”

  
“It could.” Natasha Romanoff said, with a determination that made Daisy take a step back. “But I don’t care. Because if Steve walks out of here, then both your father and sister died for nothing.”

  
And Daisy Johnson suppressed the quake for when she’ll be face to face with Steve Rogers.

* * *

  
“This place is officially creepier than Momentum Labs. Like top-notch creepy.” Daisy whispered into to com-link just to keep the conversation going. To keep Robbie talking. His voice echoing in her ears was the only thing keeping her sane right now. Otherwise she would have quaked up the whole place twice at this point.

  
“If you two don’t stop chit-chatting, you’re going to wish to run into Steve rather than me.” Natasha’s voice sounded strange and foreign in her ears, too musical and too scratchy at the same time.

  
“Then stop listening.” Robbie sounded annoyed, and in any other circumstances, Daisy would have cracked up laughing at the thought of Robbie and Natasha on a mission together, but now she just felt cold.

  
Cold because she could understand why the woman would want to keep an eye on Robbie. What she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around was, however, the fact that the woman had looked almost hopeful that Daisy would be the one to run into Steve. Or that Robbie would take care of him for her. Like the Black Widow dreaded laying a hand on Captain America. And that scared Daisy more than it should.

  
_Would you want to hurt Coulson? May? Fitz or Simmons? Robbie?_

  
Daisy shrugged at the thought, and almost flinched as Grant Ward’s face flooded her mind along with all her feelings from the Zephyr.

  
_Ward was different. This is different._

  
_But was Tony Stark different?_

  
Daisy felt the cold intertwine with the stinging of the quake that threatened to emerge, and almost asked Natasha that last burning question in her head.

  
But then her eye caught movement somewhere in the distance, and she realized that maybe it wasn’t Steve Rogers Natasha feared to run into.

* * *

  
Clint Barton was pissed.

  
Since stupid Steve had decided to renew Prison Break and not take him or anyone, for the matter, along, Clint had felt a tiny bit annoyed. No, in fact that had begun when stupid Stark had decided to die on them. Or rather, when idiotic Steve had decided to kill him.

  
Then, stupid Wanda had acted like a crying bitch baby and stayed in her cell while stupid Sam wanted to be a little goody two shoes and also stay put, because hey, we’ve broken a lot of stupid laws already. At that point Clint’s annoyance had started to climb rapidly fast. Just as fucking Barnes had begun ignoring him like he wasn’t even there. That had been a major set-back.

  
So now he was stuck wondering around the Raft with the biggest idiot of them all, Scott Lang. On top of that, he knew Nat was probably so mad at him. Not only that, but Laura…

  
Clint suppressed a shiver, because damn, he didn’t want to think about what it would mean if she found out…if the kids found out…

  
It was safe to say Clint Barton wasn’t just pissed. He was damn furious. And hungry.

  
The last stroke, however, was when he was suddenly swept off his feet and thrown against one of the hard, cold walls of the Raft, and then fucking Lang landed on top of him.

  
Yeah, Clint Barton was freaking furious.

  
Cursing whatever invisible force had struck him like that, Clint rose to his feet, ready to punch whatever had caused this. And then he stopped.

  
The girl looked young, way too young, like Nat had when he’d first met her. Barley twenty, he thought, her dark hair sharpening…they eyes of a ghost.

  
Clint suddenly felt really cold, like the hard snows of Siberia had suddenly materialized inside the Raft, ready to swallow him up. Then he noticed the way her eyes were shaped at the edge, in a slight delicate curve. Chinese, he thought, breathing easily all of sudden, cursing himself for acting so stupid. Just like his so called team mates.

  
“Who the hell are you?” Lang hissed next to him, oblivious to the war going on in the archer’s head.

  
“SHIELD.” The girl said just as Steve Rogers threw her across the room.

* * *

  
Natasha Romanoff dreaded laying her eyes on Clint Barton. Ever since that airport in Saxony, Natasha knew things had changed. Things would change. Not just between the Avengers, but also between her and Clint.

  
_Enemies. Allies. Friends. Partners. Lovers. Cheaters._

  
And now what?

  
Laura kept calling her, begging her to tell her something, to find out anything, to do anything to get him out. She’d only picked up once, the kids crying in the background being enough to not do it again. Laura’s and Clint’s kids. Kids she could never give him.

  
She knew deep down it was one of the main reasons Clint didn’t leave Laura. Not just because of the kids, but also because she’d given them to him. Clint loved her because of this, and Nat hated it.

  
Hated it, but never him. Never her. Never them.

  
So, as Robbie Reyes kept glancing at her like she might bite him, Natasha wondered whether what Clint and her had was still standing.

  
What was it, at the end of the day?

  
Stolen kisses when no one was watching? Random nights of passion in disgusting motels on God knew what missions? Whispered words of sweet nothing that they both knew could never become true?

  
She’d felt something shift that day in Germany and she didn’t know what. But it terrified her more than anything had in her life, and that meant something. Because if the KGB hadn’t ruined her, than losing Clint would.

  
“What’s on your mind?” Robbie asked, and Natasha glanced his way, hoping that her look would be enough to shut him up. She very much enjoyed the way she terrified the man, in spite of his own reputation.

  
But the Ghost Rider only raised an eyebrow at her, and Natasha sighed. Maybe that fear had vanished.

  
“Daisy lost her father that day in Siberia,” she finally said, eyes darting onto the hard flooring. “And I’m afraid I may have lost my partner that day as well.”

  
She didn’t know how to call Clint now either. Lover definitely felt far-fetched at this point.

  
“Steve?” Robbie asked, sounding extremely confused and doubtful. Natasha was glad he’d at least rolled Tony out of the equation.

  
“God no.” She said, attempting to laugh. It didn’t come out like a laugh at all. More like a hysteric cry. “He’s name is Clint.” Maybe times and times ago, in another life, with the Triskelion still reigning over Washington DC, her and Steve may have been something.

  
But now even thinking about Steve made her sick. She’d trusted him. God, she’d wanted to trust him so badly back in Germany. Because it was Steve. Steve who was always sad when no one was looking. Steve who’d just lost the love of his life. Steve who missed his best friend. Steve who at heart was still a skinny kid from Brooklyn. Steve who had killed Tony.

  
Tony.

  
God, Tony had a daughter. Actually, for about two minutes, he’d had two daughters. Whom he’d never even known about.

  
And then there was Pepper. Pepper who didn’t deserve any of this. Natasha had picked up the phone to call the other woman, her friend, about the same amount of times Laura had called her. But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t do it because she was selfish. Because Pepper’s pain was so close to her own, yet so far, that she couldn’t bring herself to talk about it.

  
Tony Stark had touched so many people in his life, more so than he could’ve ever imagined.

  
Natasha turned toward Robbie, desperately needing something to distract her from the battle in her mind, and tormenting him with question seemed the perfect way as of right now.

  
And then Daisy Johnson – Daisy Stark – let out a cry in the Black Widow’s ear, and Natasha knew she’d finally have to face Steve.

  
And maybe even Clint.

* * *

  
Daisy cried out as her body collided with the stone floor, attempting to catch herself like May had thought her in order to minimize the damage. Luckily, she didn’t hear any loud cracks, but the impact had been hard, and the force he’d thrown her with inhuman. Almost Inhuman, but not quite.

  
Where was Mace when she needed him?

  
Lifting her head up, Daisy saw him pass by Barton and whoever the other guy was like they weren’t even there, his eyes fixed on her like…like Malick’s eyes had been. Because she was the thing standing in his way. Not them.

  
As he got close enough to grab her if he’d want, Daisy Johnson made up her mind.

  
So when she raised her hand, the waves weren’t just big. They were strong enough to break bone. And then, Steve Rogers stumbled back, and on his chest where she’d aimed, under the broken material of his shirt, instead of a broken sternum, there was only broken skin. And underneath that, underneath little blood, there was only red.

  
Red skin.

  
And as The Ghost Rider threw his chain around the soldier’s body and Natasha shielded Barton from her view, Daisy threw up.

* * *

  
Despite everything that had happened with the team and to that poor woman in the last 24 hours, Jemma Simmons was having quite a great day.

  
Her and Leo’s apartment was finally - finally a solid thing, and she couldn’t be more happy.

  
Trying to avoid looking at the bed Jeffrey Mace was currently sleeping in, with Coulson at his side, Jemma attempted to concentrate on the research she was supposed to be doing. Regarding the bombing of Stark Tower.

  
It was the weirdest thing both her and Leo had ever seen, like the technology of the bomb itself was foreign. Not alien. Definitely not alien. Just something that neither of them had had access to before. Like Stark tech, but different. Improved. And that terrified her.

  
And on top of that, those newbies that were juts out of the Academy kept chatting next to her station and driving her bloody crazy. She was about to turn around and tell them to shut up, when something they said caught her attention.

  
“… escaped…"

  
“…Agent Johnson…”

  
“…Red Skull…”

  
And Jemma Simmons ran toward Coulson, a cold realization suddenly hitting her.

* * *

  
Everything that happened after Robbie had showed up was a blur to Daisy. The only thing that mattered was that Steve – The Red Skull had gotten away. And that the Rider couldn’t burn him. Robbie hadn’t said a word to her since. Natasha hadn’t left Clint’s side. And Scott Lang- she knew his name now – kept starring straight at her.

  
Coulson and Simmons were nowhere to be seen and Fitz had vanished as well not too long ago. The Zephyr was quiet. Way too quiet. Like a cemetery.

  
Daisy was glad that May was ready to land at the Playground.

  
She just wanted to sleep. Sleep and cry and then sleep again. And when she’d wake up, she’d grab her stuff and ask May to drop her off in New York. She needed to get away, now more than ever.

  
As the pane finally hit solid ground, Daisy raised to her feet and darted out into the Playground faster than anybody, not wanting to think about what everything that had happened today meant.

  
Steve Rogers – the real Steve Rogers – was dead. Just like Tony Stark was. And the Red Skull was out there, helped by God knew whom. It was too much for her tired mind to comprehend.

  
She didn’t know what made her take the way that passed by the common room. It was longer anyway. She stopped dead when she heard Colonel Rhodes call her name.  
It took her exactly 20 seconds to register Sam Koenig standing there with his head down, Pepper’s tear-streaked face, the way she wouldn’t look Daisy’s way and Rhodey’s blank expression. And then she was out, running to her room, blindly stacking whatever she could inside a backpack. Exactly 7 minutes.

  
In another 2 minutes, she’d passed past a very confused Robbie who suddenly wanted to talk and a surprisingly understanding Simmons, and was back inside the air shed, running straight to May.

  
“I need to get to New York. Now.” She managed to let out, her voice shaking, tears threatening to emerge.

  
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” May turned around, confusion clearly visible in her eyes. And then she saw Daisy’s dead-pale face.

  
“Sam is here. They know.”


End file.
